Hey! Been quite a while since I've been here, last time I was asking for help for my computer and well, despite getting some great help and trying several different things I've decided to simply change my motherboard and processor to start with. Desperate times calls for desperate measures!

I mostly play World of Warcraft & SC2, watch HD Movies and TV Shows (On my TV that's hooked up to the computer). I usually plan a computer for a 3-4 year cycle, depending on how much I'm spending, and I spent a fair bit last time (2010) along with adding the larger SSD disk last year (I had a 60GB first.). I still want this semi-upgrade to last at least the next 2 years as I won't really be able to afford a whole new computer until I've finished studying.

I've already chosen the Intel i5 3350P CPU and while I know that's a 1155 socket, I'm on a bit of a tight budget and I've got no interest in not running a discrete GFX card. As for the Motherboard, MSI P67A-GD65 looks like what I'm going for. Its an older mobo (And pretty cheap!) but compared to my P55A it'll still be an upgrade and I feel that my current system performs well (When it works!). So the idea is to replace the Motherboard and CPU first, hopefully I won't have to replace the memory or the GFX as my budget will really only allow for a 650 GTX Ti at most, and that's not the biggest upgrade from a 460GTX when you're only playing WoW & SC2 :/

What I'm looking for really is advice on that Motherboard, I've compared the i5 3350P vs a S1150 i5 4430 and I can't say that I'd need the on-chip graphics so it just becomes a matter of price and longevity. If I spend say an extra 73$ on something like an ASRock Z87 Extreme 3... it would only be for future-proofing. And by then, I might want just want a brand new system. Advice?

What are you struggling? the ssd is decent, the cpu is decent, the gpu is probably the weakest since the mid end gpus are like 3x faster now. Whatching movies n tv shows your pc is fine still, for gaming i would probably upgrade the gpu to MSI GTX760, but maybe you are struggling with something that you want a better CPU.

WoW and SC2 rely upon 2 fast CPU cores. It's fairly linear fps with CPU speed. So, a 3.1GHz IVB with a 3.3GHz turbo will play the game fine. Generally, anything faster than 3GHz is good. The GTX 460 should keep up ok (you don't mention your monitor resolution, so I'll assume 1080p). Honestly, if you are strapped for cash...you could get a decent mobo and just plop a fast pentium in there. Then replace it with a quad core when funds permit/you feel you need it.

The MSI mobo has an interesting review profile at Newegg. 65% 4 and 5 star reviews and 23% 1 stars...where most of the one stars look to be DOAs. So, if your board posts, I guess you'll love it Fan control on these older boards is pretty rudimentary.

Thanks for the answers guys! What I'm struggling with are BsoD's, small freezes in the system where the mouse pointer can dissapear and a few other issues. My thread from just under 1 year ago is here.

I feel like I've done what I can for this system, last two days I've uppdated the bios, all the hardware, applied new cooling paste to my CPU, cleaned the whole computer properly. Reformatted all the drives properly twice and done two fresh Win7 installs. I've checked the PSU and its fine, I've run several cycles of memtest on it with no issues at all... yet I'll still get a BSoD: Stop 0x00000101 A clock interrupt was not recieved on a secondary processor within the allocated time interval. I've gotten another Stop message as well but I can't remember which one it was. 117 or something I think.

I've got nothing overclocked, temperatures under load go up to 54-62 under load on both GPU & CPU. As for buying a GTX 760 I can't afford it atm, I could stretch to a 650 Ti at most. And my monitor is a slightly older one so its resolution is set at 1920x1200 via DVI.

After doing a little bit of web searching, it seems this particular BSoD may point to a failed CPU. Is your 760 still under warranty? If so, the cheapest fix would be to start a warranty RMA with Intel. You've got nothing to lose.

The next cheapest fix is to replace the CPU and hope the mobo isn't the problem....or if it is the mobo, maybe the mobo is still under warranty?

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As for buying a GTX 760 I can't afford it atm, I could stretch to a 650 Ti at most. And my monitor is a slightly older one so its resolution is set at 1920x1200 via DVI.

Hold off on the gfx card until you resolve the cpu/mobo issue. Then run the games with FRAPS and see what you get for frame rates as well as your perception on "is it smooth and not stuttery?"

Intel has a 3 year warranty and that's just passed unfortunately, same for the Motherboard. I have to replace them myself :/

So its back to trying to find a 3350P and a Motherboard that fits and can handle my 2000mhz memory. Most of em' just go up to 1600.

As for a GFX, I'm tempted to get a used 460GTX and run 2 of em' in SLI... found one for about 100$, which is just under half the price of a new 660GTX... Just not quite sure how that stacks up performance wise in comparison ^^

So its back to trying to find a 3350P and a Motherboard that fits and can handle my 2000mhz memory. Most of em' just go up to 1600.

Intel only supports 1333/1600 by design, the memory controller is built on the chip, so supporting above 1600mhz will depend on the chip mostly and not the motherboard, but dont worry performance increase on higher clocked ram is so little that imo stability is much more important.

Huh, didn't know that... I only got my 2000mhz Dominators cus' they were on sale and about 5$ more then a pair of 1600mhz, figured it was worth the extra 5 bucks.

Thats fine, you might be able to reach it, i would have also gone for $5.

h2o wrote:

I'm still trying to find a 1155 board without integrated GFX, 6 USB backpanel slots, SLI compatability is a + but not a must... but they all seem to have integrated GFX.

A not so expensive motherboard (idk where you buying it), MSI ZH77A-G43 (no sli support only xfire), i prefer single card over sli, more variables to deal with, unless you going with above 1080p, i wouldnt touch sli. None of the mobos come with integrated Graphics, its only support in case the cpu you buy comes with.

I can get a i5 3350P and ASRock Z77 Pro4 for just under 363$ and I think that's what I'm gonna do. I'll wait with the GFX a bit longer, if the 660GTX could drop a bit more in price I might just get one for Xmas

Well, I went for an i5 3350P and an ASRock Z77 Pro4, which btw has an awesome BIOS, and a new PSU just in case. My old Seasonic 430w was running well but I wanted a modular PSU for less stray cables, got a Corsair RM 550 as a friend of mine recommended it and it was on sale (Its even tidier now along the backplate of my P182). However I just had my first failure of the Nvidia GFX driver... now I know its NOT a power issue, and I'm going to give my memory sticks another proper run through memtest...

I'm worried this is my GTX 460 packing in :/ It seems to happen when I've used extended view or switched to my second screen (37" HDTV). Anyone know of the 460GTX having issues with that? I'm gonna switch up to the latest drivers and see if it helps. Was running on the 320.49 WHQL one.

Well, it crashed again when I switched to my secondary monitor only after having run it in duplicate mode only a minute or so. The screen got all fucked up and I couldn't do anything. Going to leave the computer running tonight with memtest on but, I think its becoming fairly clear that its the Graphics card that's the issue :/

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